Oakland 3D printing company takes production industry by storm

This rubber figure is an exact prototype of an individual’s heart and was created on a 3D printer at Fathom.

Nearly a century ago, the warehouse on Jefferson and 4th Street in Oakland was a brass foundry. Back then, workers melted scrap metals to create the amber alloy that was a staple in the manufacturing of products from industrial tools to the trumpets like those that brought Louis Armstrong’s music to life.

In 2011, the cobwebs and mildew that had collected on the wooden rafters of the warehouse were sandblasted to usher in a new era of production.

Today, instead of melting down large cauldrons of metals and manually laboring over molds and presses, tech-savvy workers need only to follow one simple direction before finished products from dolls to prosthetic limbs materialize in 3D: “Just click print.”

These three words have become the motto of Fathom Studio, a 3D printing company that is the brainchild of founders Rich Stump and Michelle Mihevc.

Mihevc and Stump, who met through a friend, invested their own money in a 3D printer that was housed in Mihevc’s garage before the pair created Fathom in 2011. Since opening its doors, Fathom has seen a three-year growth of 1,188%, with 2012 revenues at $3.4 million, according to Inc.com. The company is ranked #369 in Inc.’s list of the 5000 fastest growing companies in America in 2013.